To purchase a print of this drawing, or other
Asheville area churches, by author/artist
Lee Pantas,
visit
Cherry Orchard Studio

Asheville has over
300 religious institutions with the Baptist Church (100 churches) and Methodist
Church (60 churches) being the two largest denominations. The Asheville phone
book yellow pages are your best and most complete resource but there are also
online directories as well. Here are some fairly comprehensive, but by all means
not complete, online church directories.
Church AngelSuper
Yellow Pages

Asheville's Historic ChurchesOf special interest to
visitors and residents alike are the beautiful historic churches in
the Asheville area

.Basilica
of St. Lawrence To the north of the Grove Arcade area is the
Basilica of Saint Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr, built in 1909. A
Spanish Baroque Revival Roman Catholic Church built of red brick
with polychrome glazed terra-cotta inserts and limestone trim, it
was designed by world-famous architect/engineer Raphael Guastavino.
The church employs his “cohesive construction” techniques in its
large oval tile dome and Catalan-style vaulting in its two towers.
The massive stone foundations and the solid brick superstructure
give silent testimony to the architect’s desire to build an edifice
that would endure for generations. There are no beams of wood or
steel in the entire structure; all walls, floors, ceilings and
pillars are of tile or other masonry materials. The dome is entirely
self supporting, has a clear span of 58 x 82 feet and is reputed to
be the largest unsupported dome in North America. The Crucifixion
tableaux of the Basilica altar features a rare example of
seventeenth century Spanish woodcarving. The windows are of German
origin, and the Basilica has two chapels. Attached by an arcade is
the 1929 Neo-Tuscan Renaissance brick rectory designed by Father
Michael of Belmont Abbey. Self-guided tour brochures are available
at the church, and guided tours are given after Sunday masses.

Cathedral
of All Souls Originally known as All Souls Church, it was
designated an Episcopal Cathedral in January 1995. The largest
structure in Biltmore Village, it is an exquisite, lovely building
of fine Romanesque style. Designed by Richard Morris Hunt, this
complex building combines pebbledash wall surfaces, brick and wood
trim, and expansive tiles roofs. In spite of the complexity however,
the church is a simple cruciform with a tall tower rising in the
center which contains most of the interior space. The Parish House
features the same materials but is considerably different in design.

The interior is relatively simple but no less elegant and features
wonderful stained glass windows created for the Vanderbilts by
Maitland Armstrong and his daughter Helen. They illuminate a variety
of scenes from the Old and New Testaments. George Vanderbilt was one
of the organizers of the congregation in 1896, financed the
construction of the church and parish house and selected the
furnishings. The church was consecrated on November 8, 1896.

Denomination: Episcopal
Address: 9 Swan Street, Biltmore Village, Asheville NC
28803Telephone: 828-274-2681Directions: From Pack Square, take Biltmore Avenue
south to Biltmore Village. The Cathedral of All Souls will
be on your left as you pass through the village.

Central
United Methodist Church
Located on Church Street, south of Patton Avenue, this Gothic
limestone-faced church was designed by R.H. Hunt of Chattanaooga,
Tennessee. The church is noted for its fine stained and Art Glass
windows and was built between 1902 and 1905.

Church
of the Redeemer
This small, coursed-ashlar church was reportedly built in 1886 by a
Dr. Willis, an immigrant from England. It features a cruciform plan,
patterned slate roof and round arched windows with beautiful stained
glass. An Episcopal Church, it still is in operation and visitors
are welcome.

First Baptist Church Built in 1927, the First Baptist Church of
Asheville was designed by noted architect Douglas Ellington from his
sketches of a cathedral in Florence, Italy. Three major additions
have been made to the building. The Children’s Wing was added in
1968, and the Sherman Family Center in 1980. This wonderfully
elegant building is an unusual combination of an Early Italian
Renaissance form and color scheme arranged in a beaux arts plan with
Art Deco detailing. Of particular interest is the Art Deco copper
lantern atop the dome and the subtle gradation of color in the
roofing tiles. The walls are an effective combination of orange
bricks, terra-cotta moldings and pink marble.

Denomination: Baptist
Address: 5 Oak Street, Asheville NC 28801Telephone: 828-252-4781Directions: From Pack Square go east on Broadway and
turn right onto Woodfin Street to Oak Street. The First
Baptist Church will be on your left.

First Christian Church
Built between 1925 and 1926 in a traditional Late Gothic Style, the
First Christian Church is constructed of rock-faced grey
granite masonry with smooth granite trim. Designed by the home
office, it has an unusual feature in that the placement of the tower
is at the intersection of the nave and transept.

Denomination: Baptist
Address: 20 Oak Street, Asheville NC 28801Telephone: 828-252-1503Directions: From Pack Square go east on Broadway and
turn right onto Woodfin Street to Oak Street. The First
Christian Church will be on your right.

First Church of Christ Scientist The First Church of Christ
Scientist is of a refined Jeffersonian, Neo-Classical Revival style,
constructed of orange brick. Built between 1909 and 1912, it was
designed by S.S. Beaman of Chicago.

First
Presbyterian Church of Asheville
This Gothic Revival church is home to one of Asheville’s oldest
congregations and is one of the oldest church buildings in the city.
Located on the corner of Church and Aston streets, the brick nave
and steeple were constructed in 1884-85 and have deep, corbelled
cornices, hood-molded windows and blind arcading at the eaves. The
north chapel and the south building were added in 1968.

Mount
Zion Missionary Baptist Church The Mount Zion
Missionary Baptist Church is a three-tower red brick Late
Victorian Gothic structure built in 1919. it has a tin-shingled roof
that has ornamental sheet-metal finials. The large number of Art
Glass windows that grace the church are another unusual feature. It
was home to one of Asheville’s largest black congregations,
organized in 1880 by the noted Reverend Rumley.

St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
St. Luke’s is a tiny historic country frame church located in the
Chunns Cove section of Asheville. The building was consecrated on
July 9th, 1898 and features triangular arched windows with simple
geometric stained glass. The building is noteworthy for its simple,
honest beauty.

St.
Mary's Church in Grove Park Described in the year of her
founding in 1914 as a “Wayside Shrine in the Mountains of Western
North Carolina,” beautiful little St. Mary’s Church has attracted
countless visitors over the years. Designed by Richard Sharp Smith
and built in 1914, the church is English Gothic in style and
cruciform in plan. Constructed out of red brick with steeply pitched
gable roofs, the building is like those dotting the hilly landscape
of County Durham, Northumberland and Cumbria in northern England.
The English cottage-style Rectory, also designed by Smith, was built
and set in beautiful landscaped grounds. The landscape architect was
the famous Frederick Law Olmsted, architect for Biltmore Estate and
designer of New York’s Central Park. International attention was
brought to St. Mary’s by the writer Gail Godwin when she
immortalized the church in her novel Father Melancholy’s Daughter.

Denomination: Episcopal
Address: 337 Charlotte Street, Asheville NC 28801Telephone: 828-254-5836Directions: From Pack Square, go south on College
Street and turn left onto Charlotte Street east to 337 on
your right.

St.
Matthias Church: Saint Matthias began as Trinity Chapel
in 1867 on land donated by Captain Thomas Patton. It has the
distinction of being Asheville’s first black congregation. In
addition, a strong Sunday School and Day School flourished on the
site and offered the only formal education at that time for the
children of the black community. However, they soon outgrew the
smaller structure and the present building was begun in 1894. It was
completed two years later under the supervision of James Vester
Miller, whose crew then went to begin work on Biltmore House. At
this time it was renamed Saint Matthias to honor the 13th apostle
and the first missionary to Africa. A handsome Gothic-brick
structure, the building features elaborate interior woodwork.

Denomination: Episcopal
Address: 1 Dundee Street, Asheville NC 28803Telephone: 828-253-0033Directions: From Pack Square go east on College
Street to left on Charlotte Street heading south. Take a
left on Carver Street, then a quick right on Grail Street,
and then turn right onto Dundee Street.

Trinity
Episcopal Church
Located on the opposite corner of Church and Aston Streets, the
Trinity Episcopal Church is the third of the three churches in this
Church Street neighborhood. Built in 1921, it is a Tudor Gothic
Revival style brick with granite trim building and was designed by
Bertram Goodhue of Cram, Goodhue and Ferguson, well-known church
architects. This lovely building has a simple gable roofed sanctuary
with transepts and a short gable-roofed blunt tower.